Privacy Policy.
The short version. Your week lives on your phone. Planning, your household, your allergies, what you liked and what didn't sit well — none of that is sent to us. We hold three things: the email you gave the waitlist, the account and Table data you create if you sign in to cook with friends, and the ordinary server logs any internet request leaves behind. If you pick a Kroger store, the app also asks our server for that store's prices, and our server asks Kroger — Kroger sees what was searched for and at which store, never who asked. If you connect your Kroger account, our server keeps a sealed key that lets Manners add what you choose to your Kroger cart, and nothing else. Your location is used only when you tap “Use my location”, for that one search, and is never kept. No analytics, no advertising trackers, no selling or sharing of your data, ever.
1. Who we are
Manners is operated by Manners ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the information described here. Questions, requests and complaints: hello@mannersapp.com.
2. What stays on your phone
Manners is built local-first. The planner runs entirely on your device, and the following is stored only in the app's own database on your phone:
- Who is at your table, portion sizes, and your weekly budget.
- Anything you told us you don't eat, and anything that doesn't sit well — including allergies.
- Your taste profile as it learns, your after-dinner feedback ("Good", "A bit heavy"…), the dishes you keep and the ones you dismissed.
- Every week you planned, every shopping list and every checkmark in it, and what you marked as cooked.
- Your kitchen equipment.
We cannot see this information. It is not backed up to our servers, and deleting the app deletes it. The one thing on this list that leaves your phone is the search words for each shopping-list line, once you have picked a store — see 3.3. If we add optional sync between your own devices in the future, we will update this policy first and it will be something you switch on, not something that happens.
3. What we collect, and why
3.1 The waitlist
When you join the waitlist on mannersapp.com we store your email address, the page you signed up from, and the time. We use it to email you about Manners opening up and, occasionally, about what's new — and for nothing else. We won't add you to any other list. To come off it, reply to any email or write to hello@mannersapp.com. Legal basis: your consent.
3.2 Your account and the Table
Most of Manners needs no account. If you choose to sign in to the Table — the part of the app for cooking with friends — we store:
| What | Why | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address and a password | To sign you in. The password is hashed by our sign-in provider before it is stored; we never see or keep the password itself. | Only us. |
| Sign in with Apple: your Apple identifier and, as Apple supplies them, a name and an email or private-relay address | To sign you in without a password. Apple sends these to our sign-in provider to create your account; the app does not read the name or email into your profile, which is a name and handle you choose. | Only us. |
| Display name, @handle and a color | So people you invite can recognize you. | Anyone signed in who searches for your handle (at least the first three characters), and the members of your tables. |
| Tables you create or join, invitations, and who is a member | To run the feature. | Members of that table. |
| Cook posts (the dish, an optional note, the night), reactions, and dishes passed to you | So your table can see what you're making and hand dishes across. | Members of the table you posted to. |
There is no public profile, no discover feed and no follower count. Nobody can find your posts without being at your table, and nobody can put you at a table — an invitation only does anything when you accept it. Legal basis: performing our contract with you.
3.3 Ordinary technical data
Like any app that talks to the internet, Manners makes a few requests: it fetches the recipe catalog from our servers, checks for app updates, and — if you use the Table — talks to our database. Each request carries your device's IP address and basic details about the app version. Our providers keep standard infrastructure logs for a short period for security and reliability. We don't use this to profile you. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure, working service.
Store prices. One further request happens only once you have picked a Kroger store, and picking one needs you to be signed in. To find the store, the app sends our server at mannersapp.com either the five-digit ZIP code you typed, or a position: your phone's, if you tapped “Use my location”, or the place you typed, which Apple's own lookup on your phone turns into a position. A position is rounded to about half a mile on your phone before it is sent, is rounded again by our server, and is used for that one search — it is never stored or logged. Our server asks The Kroger Co.'s public API for stores near it. After that, for each line on your shopping list the app sends the words it would search for (for example "unsalted butter") and the 8-character id of your store to our server, with your sign-in token. Our server passes the words and the store id to Kroger, fetches the price, keeps the answer for up to a week, and returns it. Kroger sees the search words, the store id and our server's address; it does not see who is shopping, and no Kroger customer account is involved. Our server uses your sign-in only to count how many lookups your household has made that day; it logs a status and a count, never what you searched for. It never receives your meal plan, and matching what Kroger returns to your list happens on your phone. Legal basis: performing our contract with you.
3.4 Your Kroger account, if you connect it
Connecting is optional and only happens when you ask to add a list to your Kroger cart. You sign in on Kroger's own page, inside the app; we never see your Kroger password. Kroger then gives our server a key that allows one thing: adding items to your Kroger cart. We keep that key encrypted and use it only when you tap “Add to Kroger cart”, to send Kroger the product codes and quantities on your list, marked for pickup or delivery. We cannot see your cart, your orders, your payment details or your address, and we do not keep a record of what was added. You finish the order — the time, the address and the payment — with Kroger, under Kroger's terms. Disconnect any time under Account; closing your Manners account disconnects it too. Legal basis: performing our contract with you, at your request.
3.5 What we don't collect
- No analytics or tracking SDKs. There is no Google Analytics, Meta pixel, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Sentry, or anything like them in the app or on this site.
- No advertising identifiers, no cross-app tracking, no fingerprinting.
- No location tracking. Manners asks for your location only when you tap “Use my location” to find a store, and only while you are using the app. It is used for that search and not kept.
- No contacts, photos or camera access. If a future feature needs one, the app will ask you at the moment you use it, and you can say no.
- Microphone and speech recognition, only when you turn it on. You can say a recipe, say what you need on the home screen, or say "next" in cook mode. The mics on the home screen and the recipe screen listen from the tap until you tap again or stop talking. Hands-free in cook mode is different: once you turn it on it listens continuously — the app reopens the recognizer after each pause — until you turn it off or leave the step screen, and the control says "Listening" only while the microphone is actually open. The words are recognized on your phone: the app requires on-device recognition and will not listen at all on a phone that cannot do it, so your voice is never sent to Apple, to Google or to us. The app asks for microphone access the first time you turn a mic on, never at launch. If you say no, the home and recipe mics simply open the keyboard instead and the cook-mode control is not shown; the steps are still tapped through as before.
- No health data. We never ask about calories, weight or goals.
4. Sponsored collections
The Explore screen may show a collection a brand has paid for. It is labeled, it is the same card for everyone, and it is not targeted — we don't tell the sponsor who saw it, and they learn nothing about you. It never affects what the planner suggests.
5. Who we share data with
We don't sell your personal information and we don't share it for advertising. We use a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf, under contract, only to provide the service:
- Supabase — hosts our database (the waitlist and Table data) and our sign-in (email and password, and Sign in with Apple).
- Resend — delivers our emails, including password-reset and waitlist emails.
- Expo Application Services — delivers app updates. When the app checks for an update it sends Expo the app version and platform.
- Apple — distributes the app through TestFlight and the App Store, and provides Sign in with Apple if you choose it, under Apple's own privacy terms. Apple may share crash reports and, if you opt in, tester feedback with us.
- The Kroger Co. — answers store and price lookups through its public API, under Kroger's own terms. Kroger sees the ZIP code or rounded position used to find stores, the search words and the store id, and our server's address; it does not see you. If you connect your Kroger account, Kroger also receives the items you choose to add to your cart, under that account.
- Cloudflare — serves mannersapp.com and runs the price lookup service that sits between the app and Kroger. Cloudflare keeps short infrastructure logs.
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of people using Manners. If Manners is ever acquired, your data would transfer with it, under this policy, and we would tell you.
6. Where data is stored
Our servers are hosted in the United States, in Oregon. If you use Manners from elsewhere, your waitlist and Table data are transferred to and stored there. Where the law requires it, we rely on standard contractual clauses with our providers for that transfer.
7. How long we keep it
- Waitlist: until Manners has launched and the launch emails are done, or until you ask us to remove you — whichever is first.
- Account and Table data: for as long as your account exists. Delete your account and it is removed from our live database right away; copies in routine backups expire within 30 days.
- Server logs: a short period, typically under 30 days.
- Price lookups: the cached answer for a search at a store, for up to a week; your household's daily lookup count, for two days. A position used to find stores is not kept at all.
- Kroger connection: the encrypted key, until you disconnect or close your account; a sign-in in progress, ten minutes; your household's daily count of cart additions, two days.
8. Your choices and rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us to show you the personal data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or send you a copy. Email hello@mannersapp.com from the address on the account and we'll act within 30 days. We won't treat you differently for asking.
If you are in the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland: you also have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, to restrict processing, to withdraw consent at any time (without affecting what happened before), and to complain to your data protection authority.
If you are in California: we do not "sell" or "share" personal information as those words are defined in the CCPA/CPRA, and we don't use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. You have the rights to know, delete, correct, and to not be discriminated against for exercising them.
Deleting your account removes your profile, memberships, posts, reactions and shares from our servers. It does not touch the plans on your phone — those were never with us. We are adding in-app account deletion; until then, one email does it.
9. Security
Everything travels over TLS. Passwords are never stored in a readable form, password-reset links are single-use and expire, and each Sign in with Apple is bound to a one-time code so a sign-in captured in transit cannot be replayed. Table data is protected by row-level security in the database, so a request can only ever read the rows the signed-in person is entitled to — the same rule the app itself has to obey. The waitlist can be written to from this website but not read from it. No system is perfectly secure, and if something ever goes wrong with your data we will tell you promptly and honestly.
10. Children
Manners is not directed at children and we don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you think a child has given us an email address, write to us and we will delete it.
11. Changes
When this policy changes we will update the date at the top and, for anything material, tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. Earlier versions are available on request.
12. Contact
hello@mannersapp.com. A person reads it.